Arnold Ahlert
Columnist.
Arnold was an op-ed columist with the NY Post for eight years, currently writing for JewishWorldReview.com and FrontPageMag.com. Arnold can be reached at: atahlert@comcast.net
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Columnist.
"All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters" —Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a letter to Luther C. Steward, President, National Federation of Federal Employees, Aug. 16, 1937
Lest they grow up to be adult Jews.
Last Friday, in a two-pronged strategy aimed at challenging the odious status quo of the Establishment GOP and promoting his presidential candidacy, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) "went postal" on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). "The majority leader looked at me and said there is no deal there is no deal, there is no deal, there is no deal. Like St. Peter, he said it three times," Cruz thundered, referring to McConnell's assurance that there was no pact in the works to revive the federal Export-Import Bank, even though there was. That was the specific bit that set Cruz off. But he far better articulated the essence of what drives millions of American nuts...
And how the Congress is collaborating.
Sometimes a week goes by where the depredations of progressive ideology is so blatant it is impossible to focus on one story. Last week was one such week. Here's a trio of tales that once again illuminate the utter bankruptcy of the American left.
Our unsustainable predicament.
How Obama and Democrats are sabotaging our military from within.
Two paragraphs from a recent article entitled "The New Totalitarians Are Here" by U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols should be required reading for those on the right who believe accommodating the American Left's sensibilities has an endpoint. Nichols refers to the recent attack on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by has-been actor George Takei. Takei called Thomas a "clown in blackface" because Thomas cast a dissenting vote against the Courts' decision to "discover" yet another previously unknown part of the Constitution, legalizing gay marriage — and trampling states' rights in the process. Nichols also takes on Quartz.com journalist Meredith Bennett-Smith, who insisted that a Washington Post column by Cathy Young, challenging the bogus feminist definition of campus rape, was written by a "horrendous rape apologist" who should never be printed in that paper again.
Since the start of the 21st Century, the leftward lurch in Latin America has been unmistakable. By early 2008, the nations of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and, to a certain extent, Mexico and Peru, have all embraced center-left political parties or movements. The reason for the tilt is a familiar one: the siren song of government-mandated wealth redistribution and increased levels of social spending have resonated with people with a long history of economic and development troubles. "I think it's difficult for conservative candidates to move forward because inequality is such an entrenched issue," said Ana Quintana, a Latin America expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "And it's hard to implement free-market, institutional reforms when you need to make sure a significant portion of the population can get enough to eat."
Time for a campaign against "sanctuary" cities.
It is now official: On Sunday, in a resounding demonstration of faith in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza Party, Greek voters overwhelmingly [rejected](http://wsj.com/articles/polls-close-in-greek-referendum-1436113280) austerity measures demanded by the "troika" comprised of the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sixty-one percent of the Greek electorate voted "no." As a result, the nation that has become the poster child for socialist-inspired profligacy sails into uncharted territory. Perhaps the spookiest aspect of this affair is the level of enduring unreality that attends it. "I'm fully aware that the mandate that I was given is not for a rupture with Europe, but a mandate boosting our negotiating strength for reaching a sustainable deal," Tsipras said in a televised message late on Sunday. In other words, Tsipras and his fellow travelers believe that kicking troika demands to the curb actually strengthens their bargaining position. Apparently for some unfathomable reason they choose to ignore, or completely dismiss, the idea that any concessions granted by the nation's creditors would make it virtually certain that the EU's other economic basket cases, all of which are currently biting the austerity bullet, would demand similarly favorable deals. In relative terms, Greece is an economic pipsqueak. Italy, Spain and Ireland? Not so much.
The push to do so is on.
Activists demand answers to lawmakers' falsification of documents for ObamaCare perks.
The Supreme Court delivered a trifecta of insanity last week, courtesy of a majority who have made one thing abundantly clear: the nation as we once knew it, is on the brink of elimination. Perhaps it was inevitable, given a culture long on self-absorption and self-entitlement, and disastrously short on analytical skills and self respect. And while supporters of the Court's decisions are in a celebratory mode, their happiness will be short-lived. That's because what really got tossed on the ash heap of history last week was the rule of law, states' rights, common decency and any incentive to better one's lot in life. You won't get those types of characterizations from progressives or their mainstream media allies. When they're not busy figuring out how they can ultimately undermine religious freedom, they're attempting to purge anything they find distasteful from the nation's historical lexicon.
High court validates the president's lies.
The dark truth about disease and Obama’s border lawlessness.
Last week a Gallup poll revealed that Americans have expressed a loss of confidence in virtually every major institution in the nation, including Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, banks, big business, labor, the police and organized religion. "From a broad perspective, Americans' confidence in all institutions over the last two years has been the lowest since Gallup began systematic updates of a larger set of institutions in 1993," said a spokesman for the polling company. Is anyone really surprised? Let's begin with Congress. Right now it is run by the GOP, the party that was handed a massive victory in the 2014 election by an electorate disgusted with the status quo. So what did these stalwarts do? They embraced that status quo. They passed another debt-laden budget with full funding for the DHS, knowing full well Americans were outraged by that agency's effort to continue phasing in amnesty for illegals, even in defiance of a court order by federal judge Andrew Hanen. They approved the nomination of Eric Holder clone Loretta Lynch for U.S. Attorney General, knowing full well she would support that effort and maintain the Justice Department's track record of fostering racial polarization. And right now they are in the midst of force-feeding the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal to an American public just beginning to grasp the idea that while international trade might be beneficial to the nation, ceding our national sovereignty as part of the equation stinks on ice.
Inside a leftist death culture.
No neighborhood in America will be safe from federal enforcers thanks to new Obama mandates.
When I was a senior in high school I got my picture taken in one of those three-for-a-buck photo booths. Because the lighting was a little off, the color of my skin appeared a bit darker than it actually is. I can't remember exactly why I ended up showing it to the high school dean helping me with my college applications process, but I do remember the joke he made about it to this underachieving B student. "With this picture I could get you into Harvard," he wisecracked. How little both of us knew about what the future would bring two generations later. Progressives don't quite know it yet, but their ideology just exploded in their faces like a cheap cigar. The explosion came courtesy of two big stories, one right after the other over the course of two weeks. The first story was the coming out and subsequent lionization of Bruce, a.k.a. Caitlyn Jenner in all his/her "Vanity Fair" photo-shoot glory. A little fake boobs and a wig here, and a lot of photo-shopping there, and the next thing you know, Jenner is the toast of the progressive town — and woe unto any "bigot," "genderphobe," "fuddy-duddy," etc. who isn't down with the "I Am What I Say I Am" chorus.